Mackenzie Bouverat is a student at Harvard Law School.
Today’s headline is that Jeff Bezos visited space. Of the $5.5 million dollar expenditure, he commented the following: “[I] want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there, and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It’s very appreciated.”
Yesterday, a California state appellate court permitted a group of Postmates couriers alleging that the delivery platform withheld wages and tips may proceed on claims filed on behalf of the state of California despite a strict arbitration agreement signed by the plaintiffs. The class of drivers claim misclassification as independent contractors and seek civil penalties for underpaid wages. The latter claim is filed under the Private Attorneys General Act, which deputizes employees to sue for labor code violations on behalf of the state. Following California precedent, the lower court held — and the California Court of Appeals affirmed — that PAGA claims are not arbitrable: a worker cannot waive a right to bring a representative action on behalf of a state government. The case, Winns v. Postmates, is part of at least five other coordinated suits against Postmates in San Francisco. California appellate courts, including the First and Second District, have refused to compel arbitration of PAGA two of unpublished rulings.
A Baltimore federal judge has preliminarily approved a $29 million dollar settlement awarded to poultry plant employees by their employer, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. The plaintiffs alleged antitrust violations involving a scheme to drive down pay for the industry’s workforce. The deal permits Pilgrim to exit the proposed class action and requires it to cooperate in building a case against the remaining defendants accused of colluding to depress wages. These include Tyson Foods Inc., Hormel Food Corp., Sanderson Farms Inc., Perdue Farms Inc., Cargill Inc., Butterball LLC, Koch Foods Inc., ContiGroup Cos., Mountaire Farms Inc., Simmons Foods Inc., George’s Inc., Fieldale Farms Corp., Peco Foods Inc., and Webber Meng Sahl & Co. The case is Jien v. Perdue Farms Inc..
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October 15
New reporting examines the rollback of child labor protections; California tries to block a strike; NLRB charges Wisconsin mental health provider with firing workers during union drive.
October 14
Eleventh Circuit overturns ERISA exhaustion rule; DHS finalizes removal of automatic renewal for work permits; AFGE challenges SSA over flexible scheduling policy.
October 13
Chicago hotel workers remain on strike; a coalition of Democratic states sues the Labor Department over canceled unemployment insurance grants; the Federal Labor Relations Authority establishes a new mediation framework for federal worker disputes.
October 12
Workers at the Obama Foundation begin organizing; MLB submits its latest collective bargaining agreement proposal; Brigham & Women's nurses postpone strike.
October 11
UAW President Shawn Fain succeeds in his reelection bid, and Spanish unions call for a general strike.
October 9
DHS proposes a $100k fee for the foreign grad employment program; Trump suspends tech company access to green card program; and private equity perpetuates poor working conditions for home care workers.